Micky und der Seehund

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

A baby seal creates happy havoc for Mickey & Pluto.

Although a far cry from the great Mouse classics of the 1930's, MICKEY AND THE SEAL was still considered competent enough to earn an Oscar nomination in 1948. The scene in which a frantic Pluto watches Mickey, all unawares, sharing his bathtub with the little creature is very humorous.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

"This one is pretty good, pretty funny, not as funny as Mickey's Trailer but still enjoyable, i like when Mickey whistled the same song as the background song, the seal is very cute, pluto is hilarious with his angry and jealous face, i like this one"

This is a very funny Mickey Mouse short. Mickey visits the Seal Park and by accident he is taking a little seal home. He discovers that when he is taking a bath, a very funny sequence. Pluto is not so pleased to see a seal with Mickey. A very nice short with a very funny ending.

This is one of the better of the 1940s era Mickey Mouse shorts and the typical Disney attention to detail is still there, although you can sense that some of the enthusiasm for short form cartoons is beginning to wane just the teensiest bit. The basic premise of the cartoon-feed something and it's yours whether you want it or not-is getting a bit stale, but here it's quite entertaining. This shows from time to time on The Ink and Paint Club. Well worth watching.

The premise is nothing new really, but even then Mickey and the Seal is an entertaining cartoon with so much to recommend in its favour. The animation is of the colourful, fluid quality, and the music bursts with energy, enhancing the action all the time. The story may be unsurprising, but the brisk pacing makes it interesting enough, and there are at least two funny scenes, the scene in the bath and the ending. The baby seal is adorable but a lot of effort is made to make him much more than that. Mickey is kindly and likable as ever, and Pluto cute and energetic. In conclusion, not the most surprising of cartoons but still great. 9/10 Bethany Cox